OH MY GOD!!!!!! Ghostwatch scared the life out of me! I had it on tape for years but would not dare put it on - really freeky - especially the bit in the bedroom, the camera pans over towards the window and there it is! a black figure in a dress is how i remember it - completely pooed my pants. it also took me ages to be convinced that it was not real - i honestly thought the studio blew up at the end - i was worried for Mr Parkinson

Being honest even today like 15 years later - i would struggle to put it back on!

Somebody mentioned Lynch earlier. Spot on. His ability to wring suspense and tension out of scenes is almost otherworldly.

But there's a bit in Inland Empire when you see Laura Dern slo mo running with a look of horror on her face and then all of sudden it speeds up and this loud music blast out. Now that's a really really cheap scare tactic.

one that always gets me is that scene in signs with the kids party videotape. its just the way that there is some sort of figure behind the car and then the alien just walks out from behind the hedge...god that killed me

Why did you have to post that picture? I think the scariest bit is where you see him in the washing line.

Correct! IT is the only clown who doesn't really scare me, because I just think of him dressed in a basque and suspenders singing "I'm just a sweet transvestite..." but the scene where he's in the washing scares the beejesus out of me.

a lot of great scares have been mentioned here. The Eye really comes to mind as a movie that scared the bejesus out of me. I don't know if this has been done elsewhere, but when I saw the film in theatres, it had the most horrible opening moment ever: The film begins normally, opening logos and everything, until suddenly the film appears to burn and snap. Even the damn lights came partly back on. So theres me, getting up already, looking around with my then date for the reason when BAM! the damn faceless woman seen in the trailers bursts on the screen with a horrid bloody scream and the lights go out, followed by a text: Enjoy the cinema experience. Both of us not only screamed our lungs out, but stayed impossibly quiet - still trying to steady our heartbeats throughout the entire movie.

Also, The Decent. The scene where the main character wakes up in the middle of the night, goes to the window, hears a young girl giggle when CRASH! a fucking ten foot metal pole comes soaring through the window, driving into her skull. After that, it was back home for a change of underwear. And it certainly wasn't the last scare of the film.

And even if I hate the films of David Lynch, the moment behind the cafeteria in Mulholland Drive scared the bejesus out of me, even though you knew it's coming there's something deeply unsettling about that single half a minute that drove me out of my room and into the living room where my family were entertaining my relatives. I couldn't return to watching the film for a good hour, I was too damn scared. After that though, the film just became horrendously pretentious, but that single scare is incredible to this day.

a lot of great scares have been mentioned here. The Eye really comes to mind as a movie that scared the bejesus out of me. I don't know if this has been done elsewhere, but when I saw the film in theatres, it had the most horrible opening moment ever: The film begins normally, opening logos and everything, until suddenly the film appears to burn and snap. Even the damn lights came partly back on. So theres me, getting up already, looking around with my then date for the reason when BAM! the damn faceless woman seen in the trailers bursts on the screen with a horrid bloody scream and the lights go out, followed by a text: Enjoy the cinema experience. Both of us not only screamed our lungs out, but stayed impossibly quiet - still trying to steady our heartbeats throughout the entire movie.

Also, The Decent. The scene where the main character wakes up in the middle of the night, goes to the window, hears a young girl giggle when CRASH! a fucking ten foot metal pole comes soaring through the window, driving into her skull. After that, it was back home for a change of underwear. And it certainly wasn't the last scare of the film.

And even if I hate the films of David Lynch, the moment behind the cafeteria in Mulholland Drive scared the bejesus out of me, even though you knew it's coming there's something deeply unsettling about that single half a minute that drove me out of my room and into the living room where my family were entertaining my relatives. I couldn't return to watching the film for a good hour, I was too damn scared. After that though, the film just became horrendously pretentious, but that single scare is incredible to this day.

Do I have to mention the scene in the lift?

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He made me look ridiculous, And a man in my position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous

The Sloth scene in Se7en ruined my child hood in a small way. I couldn't sleep for a week afterwards and woke up crying and had to sleep next to my sister for the night - she was 8, i was 11. Another scene that scared me insanely was the tramp behind the dump in Mulholland Drive. I knew that something was coming, i tried to prepare myself and still fell of the bed.

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I'm clean, I'm conscientious and I travel with my own tits.

You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.

Not really big jumps but if we're talking moments that freak me out...

The woman under the duvet in The Grudge (the original one), not nice....

The scene in The Haunting (again the original) where the banging noise moves down the corridor. I watched this movie on my own at home when I was about 18 and after that scene had to turn my bedroom light on to watch the rest. The only time this have ever happened to me.

And finally the bit in The Changeling when they play back the seance on the tape recorder and hear the ghost childs voice.

saw it today so it is still fresh in my mind....the remake of halloween has a few jump tastic moments. praise the lord of horror to everyone who said exorcist 3...ive got it and it is seven mixed with the exorcist orginal!!! the recent re hash of amityvile horror and a young lad in the bath room (that sounds bad ,but how else to exsplain without spoiling?) 1408 had is share of jumps. but as a kid is was Arachnophobia ,Poltergeist III ,Ghostwatch (but Sarah Greene was safe and sound come 9am the next day for "Going Live!") and boxing day (and the last it was shown i belive) back 1992 on bbc 2 came The Woman in Black. scared the crap out of me and my older brother for ages,i went to see the play when at uni and its even worse in a small theater and the woman in black comes down the aile when the lights are very very low and all you can hear is wind blowing............from what i hear its best to see it in a small place as she always come through the audiance.